Page 137 of Running
“GO!”
We clip off the line, spread out across the lanes, but quickly position ourselves in lane one in succession. Any other lane means you’re running extra meters during the course of a race.
I keep my eyes focused on the track ahead. Since people are running different distances, our natural paces break up the group organically. The two 1500 meter runners go ahead of us, and Adeba is slightly slower.
Soon it’s only Jasmine and I. We don’t speak. This is not a time for gabbing. I tunnel down deeper into my mental well.
My brain starts sending the simple rapid-fire messages that mark my competitive runs.
One-two-three-four. Stay in step with Jasmine. Breathe. One-two-three-four. Fifty meters to next 400. Breathe.
Over and over, we round the 400 meter loop. As we hit the end of each lap, the assistant coach yells out our splits and direction to Jasmine. She’s nailing the tempo, so it’s largely messages like “keep on form” and “good job.”
Once we reach the half-way point though, the assistant coach yells out, “pick up the pace now,” and Jasmine acceleratesa notch.
I check down my body to make sure I’m able to sustain Jasmine’s speed, but everything feels good. My breathing is not pressed beyond typical race conditions, and my legs are loose.
I still got it. I celebrate that for a split second then lock back in.
Now it’s crunch time for Jasmine, and by extension, me. The laps pass by, and each loop she incrementally increases our speed. The goal is to peak the last lap while maintaining the fastest pace our bodies allow with the increasing output of energy.
The last lap comes.Here we go.Jasmine clips up the speed again. It’s not as fast as a straight 400 meter race, but we’re now pushing our bodies to their full potential.
And when she kicks up to a sprint for the last 150 meters, I already know we’ve hit a great time.
“Yes,” Jasmine says under her breath, as the assistant coach calls out the exact number. It's a solid place from which she can work towards automatically qualifying for the NCAA outdoor championships, and she’ll be faster as competition season heats up.
“Great job,” I huff out. She begins to slow down into a cool down lap.
We don’t speak more because our breathing is regulating from the last hard push. As we round the final corner of the cool down lap, I point ahead like I’m going to keep going as I’d told her earlier. She nods and peels off, letting me claim lane one.
My senses come back in full form, and I notice that during our cool down lap, Adeba passed us, having gone slower from the beginning since she’s running a longer distance. Now she’s about ten seconds ahead of me.
Let’s play this out.
I step up my speed, subtly, but enough to catch up with her. The splits are still at a pace comfortable to me, and she’s not pushing as hard as she will at the end yet.
Once I’m about five strides behind her, I let myself settle into her cadence, and stay at that distance apart from her.
I can feel my brain swimming with intrigue, threatening totake away my focus. Can you keep up with her? You’re not a 10000 meter runner.
Except, I tell myself,you’ve been putting in more training miles than you ever did in college.
Laps began passing by again, and as the assistant coach starts yelling Adeba’s splits, I notice the other ladies stepping up to watch us.
With six laps to go, Adeba escalates her speed more aggressively, and I expect her to continue incremental increases through the last laps.
Maybe because of that, at five laps to go, my body goes through a spell of fatigue, and I have to ground down mentally.
I’m not stopping. I’m not stopping.
Because I’ve been tired like this in a million races over the years, my mind is able to win the battle with my body. It takes another lap and a half, but the fatigue fades from my awareness.
With three laps to go, Shelley is there by the assistant coach when the splits are read.
With two laps to go, something shifts. My legs feel like there’s more in them than this speed, and my mind starts nudging me to go faster.
I resist because this is about Adeba, not me.
